Cody Rhodes did a phenomenal job performing with injury. Let’s look at 5 moments when Wrestlers received legitimate injuries while wrestling.
Injuries are a vital part of the wrestling industry. Sometimes, wrestlers get injured during the match legitimately but still finish their match. Usually, some injuries occur during a game in front of a live audience and television cameras. Still, they chose to spend the game and work through the pain. Here are the 5 moments when wrestlers got legitimately injured while wrestling and still finished their matches.
Former WWE Champion John Cena tore his right pectoral tendon not from lifting Big Show or falling off a ladder, instead, he tore it while doing a basic arm drag on Mr. Kennedy. And for the rest of the match, Cena fought with one arm as he cradled and dangled the injured limb by his side.
It turned out to be an unfortunate situation. Still, it was arguably worse for Mr. Kennedy, who quickly became an unpopular presence backstage. He even got accused by Randy Orton for doing a back-body drop on Cena and later got fired by WWE.
Triple H teamed up with Steve Austin to face the stable of Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit on the May 21, 2001, edition of Monday Night RAW. During the match, Jericho managed to trap Austin in the Walls of Jericho.
The game came in to break the submission, and as he planted his leg, he tore the quadriceps muscle in his leg. But that didn’t stop Hunter from continuing. He even allowed Jericho to put him in the Walls of Jericho again. It was a brave move from Triple H, and he was praised for his commitment.
If we notice carefully, Seth Rollins doesn’t often do his buckle/barricade bomb more often as he used to. This is because this move once severely injured and almost retired the legendary Sting.
Sting took the buckle bomb twice in the same match at Night of Champions. The second once caused damage to him as he collapsed in the ring. He had trouble standing back up, but after a brief rest in the corner, he somehow got the energy to stand back and continue. He and Rollins wrestled for a couple of minutes after Rollins got the improvised roll-up victory to end things early.
However, later Sting said that his main focus was to get Rollins over despite his injury. It’s a wrestling tradition that when a wrestler gets close to retirement, their main focus is to lose important matches to the younger talents to pass the torch. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the following year.
Mankind faced The Undertaker at King of the Ring in 1998 in one of the most brutal matches in the history of WWE. It saw some of the most terrifying moves and over the cell moves. During the initial moments of the match, The Undertaker threw Mankind off the top of the cell as he crashed through the announcer’s table.
But even after all this, Foley got up after that terrifying stunt and went back to the top. The Undertaker then choke-slammed Foley, through the cell and he landed straight on the canvas. During the whole match, Foley suffered multiple injuries. But he didn’t stop and completed the game. He suffered a concussion, dislocated jaw and shoulder, bruised kidney, and broken teeth throughout the match.
Brock Lesnar faced off against Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 19. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be one of the most incredible nights of Lesnar’s career could have been his last.
During the closing moments of the match. Lensar went over to the top rope and delivered a shooting star press. Unfortunately for him, he failed to complete the dive. Instead, he crashed headfirst onto the canvas. Lesnar suffered a concussion but continued with the match. He even recovered quickly and delivered an F5 to win the WWE Championship from Angle.
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